Customer Reviews

Vidocq

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a photographer I really enjoyed the cinematography and camera work of this film, very dramatic. The plot was very clever and the settings couldn't have been better. Unless you have very poor eyesight I have to suggest you watch it in French, the English dubbing is pathetic. The fight scenes were very cool and the special effects were effective and not overdone. I say this movie isn't for everyone because it doesn't have a very mainstream Hollywood blockbuster feel, it has a very foreign essence to it. I venture to say if you liked Brotherhood Of The Wolf then you will probably like this one to. The mood at atmosphere of the film are brilliantly captured and every scene would make a wonderful still photograph. Be prepared to sit down and watch it without distractions, if you miss even a few minutes you might become confused. There are a lot of subtle flashbacks throughout the movie which may prove confusing if you're not paying attention. Anyway go out a rent this movie if you're looking for something other than your typical Hollywood style film. I have nothing against the French, when I visited southern France a few years ago I loved the people and the country and I have always loved their films and here's just another example why.

Pitof, the one named director of Vidocq, has recently come unto infamy by being the director of Catwoman. This is a shame, because Vidocq is like nothing you have ever seen, whereas I am sure Catwoman will be the opposite. Regardless of his recent films, Pitof has been responsible for the visual effects of the Jeunet and Caro films "Delicatessen" and "City of Lost Children" and "Alien 4" (although again, like Catwoman, in 'Alien 4' these were French craftsman trying to translate to an American audience). I think I would not be in the minority if I were to say that the visual effects of those films (even Alien 4) were incredible, and revolutionary.
What Vidocq is, is nothing short of a mark for cinemaphiles. It is the first all-digitally produced film. It is a great gothic tapestry woven over an hour and a half that ends in a great showdown... But overall, it is an example of a film that was created outside of Hollywood, and using more European conventions to tell the story. It was very enjoyable to watch this film, because the story was not immediately obvious.
The visuals are INCREDIBLE! The sequence in the field with the lightning (you will know when you see it) is magnificent. I think that this is a template for what can (and will) be done in the future of digital filmmaking. I highly recommend this film.

One of the best action films of the last decade! This movie has everything: compelling and twisted story line that keeps you second guessing until the very end, fantastic special effects that actually look believable, beautiful cinematography, great cast and well placed and performed action scenes. I would highly recommend this film for anyone who enjoys action packed mystery movies.

Vidocq brings to the screen the story a triple murder involving a mysterious killer that has become something of an urban legend among the people of 19th Century Paris.
The setting is Paris in 1830 and a young journalist is trying to shed light on the death of a private investigator that has died in his efforts to find and capture a mysterious murderer who's been using unprecedented sophistication and imagination in killing his victims.
The film brings to the screen two main stories, which are unfolding simultaneously: On the one hand, the murder mystery, and on the other (and to a lesser extent), the background events leading to a major insurrection.
The movie portrays superbly life (which is quite miserable) in Paris in 1830, and provides valuable insight into a very important period of French (European) History.
We get a taste (though a very light one) of France's political situation (Royalists vs. Republicans vs. Napoleonists as well as Franco-Prussian relations).
Gerard Depardieu, Ines Sastre (who is GORGEOUS!), Guillome Canet, and the rest of the cast, have truly outdone themselves with their performances, which are outstanding to say the least! All the actors, without exceptions, give it their 100% and it really shows!
The setting, the dialogues, the music, and the costumes are all wonderful!
Very well written and very well presented, it allows for a thought-provoking movie that will definitely provide for an evening's entertainment.
In short, Vidocq is a movie definitely worth watching and one to seriously consider adding to your movie collection (if you haven't done so already)!
Strongly recommended along with Napoleon the TV Miniseries (starring Christian Clavier, Isabella Rossellini, Gerard Depardieu, and John Malkovich), Queen Margot (Isabelle Adjani), Brotherhood of the Wolf (Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel), and Marie Antoinette (Kirsten Dunst) for those with a soft spot for France and French History.

I am an avowed francophobe, well not really, I like their cheese, wine and above all their women, and in this case one of their movies. Actually a Deutsche e-freunde recommended it to me. No faint praise. I said I like the cinematography of Brotherhood of the Wolf. He recommended Vidoqc. I blanched at paying the $50+ cost of the nearly unavailable DVD, but decided to take the chance. It was worth it. I noticed that it is offered in prerelease at $25 for the American version, a bargain so long as it hasn't been gutted by the American distributor.
My version was released in Quebec.

The story is well done. It hooks you in the first few minutes. The colors and camera work are mesmerizing. You feel like you can smell the brandy and garlic on Nimier's breath. The costumes are pure genius. You feel like you are standing in Post-Napoleonic Paris. Pitof, the director with such credits as visual effects director on both The Messenger: the story of Joan of Arc, and Alien 4. Most recently he directed the bomb Catwoman with Halley Berry. Well, don't judge Vidoqc by that disaster. The shift of an inch or two of Halley's costume top and he would have had a hit. I think the mere presence of Sharon Stone probably killed that effort.

Not only will the plot twists and turns of Vidocq keep you guessing up to the end of the movie; the atmosphere will intoxicate you. As with most french films, there is abundant sexuality and in this case, revealed and implied deviancy enough to titillate even the most jaded. Young girls sold into white slavery by their parents to be tortured, mutilated and ultimately sacrificed by the Alchemist...I doubt much of that will make it into the American release. One pitiful scene remains vivid, where Vidoqc tries to communicate with the filthy naked form of a cowering young teenager. She mumbles incoherently through her terrified tears, incapable of uttering an intelligable sound. Covered with filth, trembling, it appears her tongue has been cut out. As Vidoqc watches helpless, the girl runs off into the night and an uncertain future.
Pitof paints a vivid world of sex, violence and chaos set amidst the turmoil of France in upheaval. This is a not to be missed movie.

After French detective Vidocq (one of the historical figures whom Sherlock Holmes was based on, played here by Gerard Depardieu) is killed at the hands of the Alchemist, a killer who wears a mirrored mask and steals the souls of his victims, his young biographer Etienne (Guillaume Canet) decides to solve his murder as a final tribute to this great man. The story is told partially in flashbacks, with both Etienne and Vidocq (in the flashbacks) solving the same mystery "together".

"Dark Portals" is a stylish yet strange movie that may not appeal to all tastes. The film is directed by Pitof, a visual effects expert who graduated to directing, so the special effects in this film are incredible, as is the scenery, which appears to have been added by computer. The plot of this film is unusual - I don't want to say too much about it, so as not to give away too many of the plot twists, but the story combines mystery and horror/fantasy elements and as a result it can be viewed as either a mystery or as a horror film. I, personally, am not a fantasy fan, so didn't really like the fantasy elements all that much, but I am a big mystery fan and that was enough to keep me interested. The script of this film was co-written by Jean-Christophe Grange, who also wrote "The Crimson Rivers" and "The Empire of the Wolves", two of my favourite mystery novels, and although this is nowhere near as good as either of those books, and although it is a bit slow moving at times, it is still a decent story.

One thing that does let this film down is the acting, which felt amateurish to me. Even Depardieu, who had made over 100 movies prior to this one, seems wooden, and the less experienced actors are even worse. I suspect that this is the down side of having a technical expert as a director.

Overall, this is an above-average, but not great, film that is worth watching if you are looking for something different, but won't stay with you for long after the credits have finished rolling.

The most intriguing part about this amazing French historical thriller is that it was totally ignored by American and British box office. Whether it became yet another victim of Anglo-French eternal Kulturkampf, or just a mere blunder on behalf of either French or American/British producers, it is still not an excuse not to show such a spectacular movie to the English speaking audience. We can only thank Canadian bilinguality that made producers in the French part of the country put the English subtitles into the film so those of us who don't speak French could also enjoy this masterpiece from a French visuals wizard Pitof. The story is set in Paris in the turbulent days of the July Revolution of 1830 and based on a struggle between a famous French detective of the early 19 century Eugene Vidocq, played by Girard Depardieu, and the most powerful and dangerous, preying for some reason mostly on young virgins, mysterious serial killer known as Alchemist. Their fight in the beginning of the movie ends up with Vidocq's death and the story is narrated by a young journalist who is determined to find this villain and avenge the slain detective. He follows the footsteps of Vidocq's investigation in the head-spinning rollercoaster ride through aristocratic salons with the most unaristocratic habits, the Parisian underbelly and its ill-famous quarter du Temple where you can buy anything or more precisely anyone, the opium dens and the dens of Revolution, seeing and finding out things along the way that noone was able to see and know, untill he (and everybody else) comes to the dramatic and surprising final which will definitly knock your socks off. The whole movie, colorful like you can only imagine, is so beatifully crafted (like, for example, breathtaking unforgettable image of an aerial view of Paris of early 1800s) so in the end it leaves you absolutely stunned. Real eyecandy. Enjoy it.

This is a genuinely interesting effort, but it falls apart for me as soon as the secret of the killer is revealed. Frankly, I was vastly more interested in the real story of Vidocq and the history the movie keeps alluding to than in what the main plot serves up. And the cinematography people keep gushing over is bad video game cutscene quality, with a lot of obvious CGI, quick cuts, and extreme close-ups of people's noses. Gerard Depardieu and the rest of the cast are good here; I just think they get lost a bit under the director's ham-fisted attempts at stylishness and horror.

** Spoiler **

My main objection to this movie is that at some point they give up on the detective genre and just say, "Screw it! He's magic." It's like the 2009 "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes" low-budget cash-in where Sherlock Holmes fights CGI dinosaurs for some reason. The actual Vidocq was a really interesting guy living at a really interesting time, and 3/4 of this movie takes advantage of that. Then the last quarter kind of undoes all that by abandoning any rules of reason or physics and making the villain an immortal Matrix-ninja who eats people's souls and can't stand mirrors. Weird.

Vidocq is France's answer to Sherlock Holmes. Vidocq is killed in the first scene. As his partner mourns (over a bottle) a young journalist shows up wanting to finish writing Vidocq's biography and find his killer. Much of the movie is told in flashbacks. Sometimes there are flashbacks during the flashbacks, but it seems to work. Prior to his death Vidocq had the killer remove his mask so he could see his face. Vidocq's body is not recovered. The ending is not going to be too hard to figure out. I loved the backgrounds in this movie. They were a bit surreal, but not as cartoonish as Dick Tracy. The movie went at a good pace. My biggest problem was the extremely poor dubbing, especially the minor characters who had the same voice. This guy dubs bad Italian movies too. The movie contains a look into opium dens and the red light district. Minor nudity.

Marc Caro splits off from his long time collaborator, Jean-Pierre Jeunet to offer up this wild ride of a film. Set in 17th century Paris, during a time of political upheaval, the viewer follows the investigation of a supposed biographer of the title character Vidocq to find out how he died and who killed him. The path of the investigation is long and twisted, involving more than a few characters and odd locations, and ends in a pretty cool climax.

This film is visually stunning as one would expect given its pedigree. The street scenes of Paris are like nothing I've ever seen before in film. The colors are over-saturated and the camera angles and movements are often dizzying. There was a certain harsh edge to the images that threw me a bit, but not enough to stop me from enjoying the lush visual palette.

This is a very good film but it has a couple of significant flaws that kept me from giving it the full five. First are the characters. Except for one female character, I found these folks to be a wholly unlikeable bunch. Even Vidocq's partner, though colorful, had an abrasive edge to him. They rather remind us Americans why we don't care for the French. The other is the script itself. The story outline is fine but the investigation just isn't clever enough. Vidocq's biographer goes to a given character to get information, gets it, then goes on to the next and so on and so on. The only real surprise comes in the final few minutes. It also could have used more whimsy. As dark as "City of Lost Children" might have been, it was also a very funny movie. Dark Portals could have used some of that fun.

That being said, it should not deter anyone from seeing this movie. The pluses far outweigh the negatives. If you like Caro's earlier works or the works of Terry Gilliam and those of similar ilk, this is a must see.